Annual leave in Malaysia: how many days you get, and how to use them

Yap Pat Yih, Co-founder and General Manager · 2026-09-26 · 8 min read

The Employment Act gives you 8, 12 or 16 days of paid annual leave a year, depending on how long you have worked. How it is counted, what happens to unused days, and how we do it at BlackRevo.

If you work in Peninsular Malaysia or Labuan, the Employment Act 1955 gives you at least 8 days of paid annual leave a year in your first two years with an employer, 12 days from two to five years, and 16 days after five years. Many employers give more. The law also says when leave must be taken and what you are paid for days you never used.

TL;DR

At least 8, 12 or 16 days a year, depending on how long you have worked for the same employer (section 60E(1)).
In the year your job ends, you get leave in proportion to the months you completed that year.
Your employer must grant, and you must take, each year's leave within twelve months after that year ends. Leave not taken by then is lost, unless your employer asked you in writing to give it up for pay.
When your job ends, unused leave is paid at your ordinary rate of pay: your monthly wage divided by 26 (section 60I).
"Emergency leave" is not a legal entitlement: it is annual leave at short notice, or unpaid leave.

How many days of annual leave do you get?

Section 60E(1) of the Employment Act sets the minimum, for every twelve months of continuous service with the same employer:

Less than 2 years with that employer: 8 days
2 years to less than 5 years: 12 days
5 years or more: 16 days

These are minimums, and many employers give more. At BlackRevo the range is 12 to 22 days depending on grade and service, and every grade sits above the legal minimum (see below).

Annual leave comes on top of your rest days and paid public holidays; it is not taken out of them (section 60E(1A)).

Since 1 January 2023 the Act covers anyone with a contract of service, whatever they earn. The RM4,000 wage line now affects only a few rules, such as overtime, not annual leave. Domestic employees are the main exception, and Sabah and Sarawak have their own Labour Ordinances.

How is annual leave calculated if you have not worked a full year?

The Act's own proportion rule is for the year your employment ends. If you have not completed twelve months of service in that year, you are entitled to leave in direct proportion to the months you did complete. If your entitlement is 8 days a year and you leave after six completed months, that is 8 × 6/12 = 4 days.

The Act also settles fractions: less than half a day is dropped, and half a day or more counts as a full day. So 8 × 7/12 = 4.67 days becomes 5.

How you use leave in your first year while still employed is company policy. Some employers let you use the year's leave from January; others let it build up month by month. Ask which applies to you.

Four more points from the same section:

Your service counts from the day you start. The Act measures continuous service with the same employer and makes no exception for probation.
Long unpaid leave pauses the count. More than 30 days of unpaid leave in twelve months is left out of your length of service (section 60E(3B)).
Falling sick on holiday gives the days back. Days of sick or maternity leave during your annual leave count as that leave, not annual leave (section 60E(1B)).
Unexcused absence can cost you the year's leave. Absence without permission or reasonable excuse on more than 10% of a year's working days removes that year's entitlement (section 60E(1)).

Can your employer refuse your annual leave?

The Act puts a duty on both sides. Section 60E(2) says your employer shall grant, and you shall take, your annual leave within twelve months after the end of each twelve months of service. It does not name the dates, so in practice they are agreed to fit the work: apply early, expect Chinese New Year and Hari Raya to be shared around the team, and keep the written approval.

What your employer cannot do is refuse to let you take the leave at all. If that happens, you can raise it with the Labour Department (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja).

The same subsection has a proviso: you can be paid instead of taking leave, but only if your employer asks and you agree in writing not to take some or all of it.

Does unused annual leave carry forward?

By law, each year's leave can be taken until twelve months after that year of service ends; after that, it is lost (section 60E(2)). Carrying days into a new calendar year is company policy and should be written down, often a cap of a few days cleared by a set date. Ask in your first month, not in December.

What happens to unused leave when you resign?

Before your employment ends, you may take the leave due from the previous year of service plus the leave earned for the months completed in the final year (section 60E(2A)). If the contract ends, by either side, before you have taken leave you are entitled to, your employer pays your ordinary rate of pay for each of those days (section 60E(3A)). The exception is dismissal for misconduct under section 14(1)(a).

For a monthly-paid employee, the ordinary rate of pay is the monthly wage divided by 26 (section 60I(1A)); another formula is allowed only if it pays no less. On RM3,000 a month that is RM115.38 a day, so four unused days are RM461.54, paid with your final wages.

Emergency leave, unpaid leave and public holidays

Emergency leave is not in the Act. It usually means annual leave at short notice, or unpaid leave when annual leave has run out; each company sets its own notice rule.

Unpaid leave is not a legal entitlement either. It is at the employer's discretion, and the days come off that month's wages.

Public holidays are separate from annual leave. Section 60D gives you eleven paid gazetted public holidays a year, five of them fixed: National Day, the Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Birthday of the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of your state (or Federal Territory Day in a Federal Territory), Workers' Day and Malaysia Day. A holiday that falls on your rest day moves to the next working day, and one that falls during annual or sick leave is replaced by another day (section 60D(1B)). If you earn RM4,000 a month or less and work on a paid holiday, you get two extra days' wages on top of holiday pay (section 60D(3)).

How annual leave works at BlackRevo

This is what our employee handbook says, and what our HR system, Lumen, applies automatically:

12 to 22 days a year, set by grade, rising at two years and again at five. The lowest grade starts at 12 days, four above the legal minimum.
The full year's entitlement is available from 1 January. We do not make you wait for each month to build up. Someone who joins or leaves part-way gets the proportion for their months.
Emergency leave is taken as annual leave, or unpaid leave when annual leave is used up.
Carry forward up to five days, to be cleared by the end of March. Lumen shows what you carried and the date it expires.
Unused earned leave is paid out when you leave, with your final wages.
Sick leave is the statutory 14, 18 or 22 days and is the same at every grade. Hospitalisation leave is up to 60 days a year, and under our handbook those 60 days include any sick leave already taken.

Your balance, what is pending and what expires when are all on My Leave in Lumen. Reading this before your first job? Our open roles are on our careers page.

Source: the Employment Act 1955 (Act 265), updated text as at 1 January 2023, from the Labour Department.

FAQ

How many days of annual leave are you entitled to in Malaysia?

At least 8 days a year under two years with your employer, 12 days from two to five years, and 16 days from five years, under section 60E of the Employment Act 1955. Employers may give more; BlackRevo gives 12 to 22 days depending on grade.

How do you calculate annual leave for less than a year of service?

In the year your employment ends, multiply the yearly entitlement by the months of service you completed that year and divide by twelve. Eight days a year after six months is four days. Less than half a day is dropped, and half a day or more counts as a full day.

Can an employer refuse to approve annual leave?

The Act says your employer shall grant, and you shall take, each year's leave within twelve months after that year of service ends. The dates are agreed to fit the work, but the leave itself cannot be refused. If it is, you can raise it with the Labour Department.

Who is eligible for annual leave under the Employment Act?

Since 1 January 2023, anyone in Peninsular Malaysia or Labuan with a contract of service, whatever they earn. Domestic employees are the main exception. Sabah and Sarawak have their own Labour Ordinances.

Is unused annual leave paid when you resign?

Yes. If your contract ends before you have taken the leave you are entitled to, your employer pays your ordinary rate of pay for each day: your monthly wage divided by 26. The exception is dismissal for misconduct.

Yap Pat Yih: Yap Pat Yih is Co-founder and General Manager of BlackRevo and looks after the team, the hiring and the HR system they run on.

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